Review: ‘Iron Man’

After "Iron Man's" titanic summer at the box office, Paramount should have further cause for celebration with the film's DVD release. The "Ultimate 2-Disc Edition" has more than four hours of bonus features, including a seven-part documentary and a six-part history of the Iron Man character.

After “Iron Man’s” titanic summer at the box office, Paramount should have further cause for celebration with the film’s DVD release. The “Ultimate 2-Disc Edition” has more than four hours of bonus features, including a seven-part documentary and a six-part history of the Iron Man character.

Not only will consumers have reason to get an early start on Christmas shopping, but there’s little competition. The “Dark Knight” DVD doesn’t drop until Dec. 12 and the current chart-topping “Baby Mama” is much more female-skewing.

Fans will take comfort in bells and whistles that include an enticing visual effects feature as well as an “Onion News” spoof that pokes fun at the film and Paramount, claiming that the studio plans on adapting the highly successful trailer into its own feature-length film. As a fake Entertainment Weekly reporter suggests, “The adaptation of the trailer will feature additional scenes and scenarios not featured in the trailer.”

However, the package’s sweet spot is the making-of doc as well as the in-depth “History of the Hero.” “Zathura” aside, “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau previously was best known as a comic actor, director (“Elf”) and writer (“Swingers”). Obviously, he had his hands full with overseeing this blockbuster, but the doc presents him as emerging unscathed, upbeat and ready for the sequel.